Talk:The Baby Goose/@comment-2601:48:0:7745:6CA6:B1D2:7A86:B16E-20190212204853
Rainbow Dash the blue pony was headed the wrong way. The other Ponyville animals were migrating south, but Rainbow Dash avoided the crowd. So did a purple pony named Twilight, who was hiding from some angry dragons. ‘’Just pretend that I’m not here,’’ said Twilight, ducking behind Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash warned Twilight to stop following her, but it didn’t work. Soon the dragons caught up with them, ready to flatten Twilight for ruining their salad earlier. They didn’t want to eat her, but they did want her dead. ‘’Don’t let them impale me, please!’’ begged Twilight. ‘’I wanna live!’’ Rainbow Dash found herself defending the purple pony. She didn’t like animals who killed for pleasure. Rainbow Dash caught the dragons in her huge paws and flung them away. ‘’Woo-hoo! We did it!’’ cried Twilight. She ran to hug Rainbow Dash and sent them both sliding down a hillside. ‘’Whoa, you and me. We make a great team,’’ said Twilight. Rainbow Dash ordered her to go away. But Twilight was more determined than ever to stick with her protector. Rainbow Dash asked if there wasn’t someone else Twilight could annoy---friends, family, poisonous reptiles? Twilight’s family had migrated without her, on purpose. Rainbow Dash didn’t want to talk about why she was on her own. That night, Rainbow Dash made herself a hut out of logs. The purple pony was less industrious. She only gathered one stick. ‘’With my little stick and my highly evolved brain, I shall create Fire!’’ Twilight boasted. But she ended up sleeping in the rain. At dawn, on a ridge not far away, a human village was under attack. Big Bird, the leader of the ponies wanted revenge on the hunters for wiping out half his pack. He told his lieutenant Fluttershy to bring him the humans’ baby---alive. If she failed, Big Bird would kill Fluttershy instead. The rest of the pack attacked the men, while Fluttershy chased the baby’s mother. She cornered her at the edge of a dangerous waterfall. But rather than surrender her baby, the woman held him close and jumped. Downstream, Rainbow Dash and Twilight were shocked to see a woman float to the shore in front of them. She had just enough strength left to push something onto a rock. Rainbow Dash reached out and pulled the bundle closer. It was a baby. When Rainbow Dash and Twilight looked up, the woman was gone. Rainbow Dash started to leave. ‘’But, but you just saved him!’’ cried Twilight. ‘’You can’t leave him here.’’ Rainbow Dash said that she was still trying to get rid of the last thing she saved. ‘’Look, there’s smoke,’’ said Twilight. ‘’That’s his herd right up the hill. We should return him.’’ Rainbow Dash insisted that she and Twilight were not a ‘’we’’ and that she would not go. ‘’Fine, be a jerk,’’ said Twilight. I’ll take care of him. She cuddled the baby and headed toward the smoke. ‘’We don’t need that meany-weany blue pony, do we?’’ she cooed. Rainbow Dash scoffed. Twilight couldn’t even take care of herself, she said. Rainbow Dash followed the purple pony at a distance. As Twilight climbed awkwardly up the face of the cliff, the baby’s wrappings came loose. He started to slip. Rainbow Dash complained that Twilight was an embarrassment to nature, but she stood ready to catch the falling boy. Just before the baby reached Rainbow Dash’s outstretched paws, she was intercepted by a leaping yellow pony. Fluttershy only had the baby for an instant, though, before Rainbow Dash decked her and took the child back. Fluttershy could not challenge such a huge Blue Pony. ‘’Look I’m sorry to interrupt this snack, but we gotta go,’’ said Twilight. Rainbow Dash told Twilight she would help bring the baby to its herd, if Twilight promised to leave her alone after that. Fluttershy claimed she was only trying to take the child back to the humans herself. Rainbow Dash didn’t believe the yellow pony, but she did value her tracking skills, so Rainbow Dash told Fluttershy to lead the way. Fluttershy headed toward the humans’ settlement on the other side of the mountains. But the crying baby quickly got on her nerves and Rainbow Dash’s too. Rainbow Dash noticed that the baby was wearing a diaper, which might be filled with poop. ‘’Humans are disgusting,’’ said Twilight. Twilight, the designated poop-checker, found a clean diaper, but the baby still cried. Fluttershy tried playing peek-a-boo, but that scared the baby. Finally, they decided he must be hungry. They found a melon and, after a scuffle over it with some Penguin birds, the boy munched happily. That night, Fluttershy crept toward the baby, but she was interrupted by a rustling in the brush nearby. It was two ponies from her pack, checking on her. Big Bird was impatient, they warned. Fluttershy said to tell Big Bird she was bringing back the baby, plus a blue pony! The ponies wanted to attack Rainbow Dash right then, but Fluttershy insisted they would need the whole pack to bring her down. Fluttershy picked up the trail of the humans, who were nearby. But she pointed her companions the other way, through a tunnel in the mountain. Inside the mountain, there were icy caves that dropped off into ice slides. The baby slipped down one, and the others had a wild ride in pursuit. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash raced and Fluttershy loved it. Farther down inside the mountain there were caves covered in paintings. One picture showed a blue pony who looked like Rainbow Dash, happy with her mate and baby. In the next, hunters held off the big blue pony and killed her family. Rainbow Dash stared at the paintings and the others realized that this was her story. Rainbow Dash touched the painting of the baby blue pony with her paws, then picked up the human baby and hugged him. Outside once more, the animals were nearing their destination. Half Peak lay ahead, and beyond it was Glacier Pass. ‘’Did you hear that, little fella?’’ Twilight asked the baby. ‘’You’re almost home.’’ Then Twilight noticed something odd. ‘’My feet are sweating,’’ she said. The others ignored her. ‘’Seriously, my feet are really hot!’’ she cried. Then the ground rumbled. Steam and lava surged up from underneath the snow, leaving only a few precarious bridges of ice. Fluttershy leaped across a gap and urged the group to move faster. Twilight said, ‘’Wow, I wish I could jump like that.’’ Rainbow Dash granted her wish by punting Twilight to safety. Rainbow Dash scrambled after her as a section of the ice bridge collapsed. At the back of the group, Fluttershy made one more desperate leap to follow them. She didn’t make it and was left hanging off the edge of a quickly melting cliff. Rainbow Dash handed the baby to Twilight. She inched back over the collapsing ice to reach Fluttershy. The yellow pony fell, but Rainbow Dash grabbed her with her paws and threw her clear. Then the ice ledge cracked and Rainbow Dash plummeted toward the lava. A geyser of hot air blew Rainbow Dash and the ice shelf back up onto land and Rainbow Dash lay stunned, but alive. Fluttershy was stunned, too, by Rainbow Dash’s sacrifice. She asked why the blue pony had risked her life to save her. Rainbow Dash said that’s what you do in a herd; you look out for each other. ‘’I don’t know about you guys, but we are the weirdest herd I have ever seen,’’ said Twilight. That night, Twilight accidentally started a fire when she struck a flint against the rock wall, trying to make a drawing of a purple pony. As the group gathered around the cozy warmth of the fire, the baby took his first steps. He toddled toward Fluttershy and hugged her paw. Rainbow Dash curled the baby in her paws for bedtime, and Twilight looked on admiringly. ‘’You know, Fluttershy, I’ve never had a friend who would risk her life for me,’’ the purple pony said. Fluttershy agreed that Rainbow Dash was a good guy. The next day, as they approached Half Peak, Fluttershy lagged behind, deep in thought. Finally, she made up her mind and rushed ahead to warn Rainbow Dash and Twilight. There was an ambush waiting for them. Fluttershy had been under Big Bird’s orders to get the baby all along, and she had lured the others back so the pack could attack them, she admitted. ‘’That’s it. You’re out of the herd!’’ said Twilight. Rainbow Dash was furious. Fluttershy apologized, but said they had to trust her to help them now. Rainbow Dash was incredulous. How could they trust Fluttershy? The yellow pony insisted she was their only hope of getting out alive. The pack of ponies was waiting impatiently for their promised meal. When Twilight came in sight carrying a baby-sized bundle, several ponies jumped to attack. But Twilight had skis hidden under the snow and led the pack on a high-speed chase. Finally, Twilight dropped the bundle, which was quickly surrounded by ponies. Big Bird turned it over and found nothing but snow inside. The real baby was hidden elsewhere. Infuriated, Big Bird and the ponies raced after Twilight. But around a corner, they found Rainbow Dash waiting. Rainbow Dash hurled a huge log and took out three ponies. She and Fluttershy were ready to make a quick getaway, but Big Bird found them first. Fluttershy told Big Bird to leave Rainbow Dash alone. With his recovered pals at his side, Big Bird decided to fight them both. Fluttershy tried to protect Rainbow Dash, but Big Bird was too strong for her. Soon Fluttershy lay still on the snow. Twilight and the baby appeared and distracted Big Bird for a moment. Rainbow Dash threw Big Bird into a rock wall. He landed with a thud and the dagger-like icicles above him fell to finish him off. The remaining members of the pack whimpered and ran away. Fluttershy weakly raised her head. They had been quite a team, she said. Rainbow Dash thanked Fluttershy for defending her. Fluttershy said that’s what you do in a herd. Then Fluttershy insisted they leave her there. If they didn’t get the baby to the humans right away, they would lose their chance. The friends sadly walked away. At the mountain pass, the baby’s father turned back for a moment, remembering his lost son. Then Rainbow Dash appeared and solemnly returned the child. The father was overjoyed. After a goodbye hug for Rainbow Dash and Twilight, the baby smiled in his father’s arms as the humans walked on. Fluttershy limped over the hill just in time to wave a parting peek-a-boo to the baby. Her friends ran to her. Twilight even kissed her. And Fluttershy didn’t seem to mind. Rainbow Dash offered Fluttershy a lift. She declined, saying she had to save whatever dignity she had left. ‘’You’re hanging out with us now, buddy.’’ ‘’Dignity’s got nothing to do with it! But I’ll take that lift,’’ said Twilight. Rainbow Dash told her to climb aboard. And the herd headed south, for the best migration ever.